Female Peacekeepers and Gender Balancing: Token Gestures or Informed Policymaking?

Since the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 (2000), which is referenced in most of the mandates for peacekeeping authorizations and renewals as of its adoption, UN peacekeeping forces have begun a process of gender balancing. While we have seen an increase in the numbers of female peacekeepers during the decade 2000–2010 and variation in the distribution patterns of female military personnel, we do not know if female military peacekeepers are deploying to areas that are safest or to areas with the greatest need for gender-balanced international involvement. Because the decision-making authority in the allocation of peacekeeping forces rests with the troop-contributing countries, which might not have bought into the gender balancing and mainstreaming initiatives mandated by the UN Security Council, we propose and find evidence that female military personnel tend to deploy to areas where there is least risk. They tend not to deploy where they may be most needed—where sexual violence and gender equity has been a major problem—and we find only a modest effect of having specific language in the mandates related to gender issues.     

灰尘手印显现方法的研究

灰尘手印提取一直是现场勘察中关注的焦点,为了探索方便、快捷、有效地灰尘手印的显现方法,用“502”熏显不同客体、不同遗留时间的灰尘减层手印和灰汗混合手印,加染后用透明胶带粘取,然后透光照相。结果表明,显出手印清晰、流畅,不破坏手印。     

Towards a Critical Theory of Cultural Pragmatics: The Márkus Road

ABSTRACT

At the time of his death in 2016 György Márkus’s magnum opus on the culture of modernity that he laboured on throughout his post-Budapest period remained unfinished. This paper attempts to reconstruct the theory of Cultural Pragmatics that lay at the core of this immense project. The intention is to retrieve the key ideas of Márkus’s understanding of modern cultural relations by reviewing the terms of his critique of Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault on the issue of authorship. A distinctive Márkus road in the study of cultural modernity offers itself as a rich contemporary research programme for the future.     

Building Italianità in Northern Adriatic: the case of organized migration of population from Pola/Pula

The article analyzes the process of building italianità in the case of migration of population from Pola/Pula that started as early as May 1945 and culminated in an organized process that officially began on 23 January 1947 and lasted until 20 March that same year. The article sheds light on the premises of that identity by analyzing complex activities of the Italian authorities who wanted to “defend Italianism” in Pola/Pula, as well as in other border areas of former Venezia Giulia. At the state level, they were mainly carried out by the Office for the Julian March/Ufficio per la Venezia Giulia and following reorganization beginning at the end of 1946 by the Office for Border Areas/Ufficio per le Zone di Confine, and at the local level by a network of pro-Italian organizations and groups. Analysis contributes to the understanding of the top-down and bottom-up italianità building process. On the local level, common identity was built upon the myth of the patria, reiteration of traumatic/“wounded” memories and victim presentation of the “Italian” population, fear to be separated from the patria, and unjust peace treaty propaganda. Simultaneously, the “Italian” population understood the Italian state as their defender.     

Searching for Certainty: Rugby and Male Identity in a Former Model C School

This essay investigates the significance of rugby in a former “Model C” high school in South Africa. It examines the ideological and practical connections between rugby and disciplinary practices in this school under apartheid, and it traces those connections to the present day. By doing so, it argues that rugby owes much of its contemporary importance in such schools to the fact that parents, teachers, and coaches can watch as boys respond to the sport’s combination of immediacy and violence. In an era of desegregation and changing educational regulations, rugby’s structural dependence on immediacy and violence allows the sport’s disciplinary potential to remain tantalizingly stable and definitive. Recent concerns about “the scourge of steroids” in school rugby and schoolboys “playing for professional scouts rather than for their school,” however, present new threats to rugby’s apparent stability. These concerns are not random. Rather, they are born of a specific combination of the agentive decisions of schoolboys, the intense importance that adults place on rugby, and the economic and social contradictions that sustain former “Model C” schools. As such, this essay argues that the performance of schoolboy rugby produces an unexpected result in post-apartheid era: the greater the sport’s importance in these schools, and the more parents, teachers, and administrators depend on rugby for displays of discipline and certainty, the starker and more troubling the social contradictions within these schools could become.     

Seasonal Variation of Carcass Decomposition and Gravesoil Chemistry in a Cold (Dfa) Climate

It is well known that temperature significantly affects corpse decomposition. Yet relatively few taphonomy studies investigate the effects of seasonality on decomposition. Here, we propose the use of the Köppen‐Geiger climate classification system and describe the decomposition of swine (Sus scrofa domesticus) carcasses during the summer and winter near Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. Decomposition was scored, and gravesoil chemistry (total carbon, total nitrogen, ninhydrin‐reactive nitrogen, ammonium, nitrate, and soil pH) was assessed. Gross carcass decomposition in summer was three to seven times greater than in winter. Initial significant changes in gravesoil chemistry occurred following approximately 320 accumulated degree days, regardless of season. Furthermore, significant (p < 0.05) correlations were observed between ammonium and pH (positive correlation) and between nitrate and pH (negative correlation). We hope that future decomposition studies employ the Köppen‐Geiger climate classification system to understand the seasonality of corpse decomposition, to validate taphonomic methods, and to facilitate cross‐climate comparisons of carcass decomposition.     

Relation of Kinetic Energy to Contact Wounds of the Head by Centerfire Rifles and Shotgun Slugs

Wounds of high‐energy centerfire rifles and shotguns represent distinctive injuries of forensic importance. Previous studies of contact wounds have shown variability in the potential of these weapons to produce bursting wounds of the head. The present study analyzed contact head wounds owing to 26 centerfire rifles and nine shotgun slugs and compared them with respect to weapon, ammunition, entry wound site, and projectile kinetic energy. The bursting effect, defined for this study as disruption of at least 50% of the head, occurred in 25/35 of cases and was related to kinetic energy. Bursting was associated with energies <2700 ft‐lbs in 12/22 cases and energies >2700 ft‐lbs in 13/13 cases. The volume of gunpowder gas injected into the wound was considered as contributing to the bursting phenomenon. There was no relation of bursting to the specific entrance wound site, type of ammunition, or projectile fragmentation.     

关于构建土地非诉行政案件“裁执分离”模式的调研报告

基于现行土地管理法律规范并没有赋予土地行政管理机关行政强制执行权,针对非法占地建筑物和设施所作的行政决定的强制执行,需要向人民法院申请,由人民法院强制执行。由于非法占地建筑物和设施形成的原因及强制执行,与其他非诉行政执行案件有诸多不同的特点,由法院进行审查并执行的"审执一体"模式,弊端日益凸显。为有效破解土地非诉行政案件"执行难",本文以数据、案例等为基础,在分析现有模式的前提下,对土地管理领域的非诉行政案件实践"裁执分离"模式,从适用范围、理论基础、法律依据、实践经验等方面展开论证,提出在宏观层面完善立法、中观层面建立协作、微观层面细化规定,构建土地非诉行政案件"裁执分离"新型模式。     

大国北极博弈与中国北极能源安全——兼论“冰上丝绸之路”推进路径

在“海权论”“无主”“共有”等国际视阈下,北极地区的归属特别是能源资源权益的划分一直悬而未决——特别是在近年来北极环境变迁逐步加快、各国极地活动能力不断增强、全球能源竞争日趋激烈的背景下,各国拓宽能源获取渠道的需求已经变得越来越强烈。无论是以俄罗斯为代表的北极地区国家,还是以中国为代表的“非北极国家”,都对北极有着较强的能源权益声索以及能源安全维护需求。围绕着北极地区的公共与私有属性界定、开放与排他政策选择、法制与权力标准划分等诸多问题,各国之间展开了全方位的多轮博弈。目前,在各国北极政策“理念一致、目标冲突”的背景下,在北极开展合作特别是能源开发合作也越发困难重重。而对于提倡构建“冰上丝绸之路”的中国来说,要想维护本国在北极的能源安全,就必须借助在北极有重要影响力的国家的力量,通过分享理念、设置议题、促成合作等多种方式,实现对北极事务的有效介入。这将有助于规避因恶性竞争而带来的战略透支,为增强中国的北极能源开发话语权奠定基础。     

肺泡巨噬细胞在猪链球菌2型引致肺炎过程中的作用

为探明肺巨噬细胞在猪链球菌2型(Streptococcus suis type 2,SS2)引致肺炎过程中发挥的作用,用SS2体外感染4周龄SPF巴马小型猪肺泡巨噬细胞(porcine alveolar macrophage,PAM),首先以10倍递增的SS2∶PAM感染比(MOI)分别为1∶10～1 000∶1感染12h;其次以MOI=100∶1分别感染1、2、4、6、12、24h,ELISA检测三种主要炎性细胞因子TNF-α、IL-1和IL-6的质量浓度及动态变化,同时光镜观察PAM的形态变化。结果显示,三种细胞因子具有相似的动态表达趋势,其表达量均随MOI升高和作用时间的延长而上升,与对照组之间均差异极显著(P<0.01),菌液浓度之间和时间点之间均差异显著(P<0.05);同时PAM的形态异常和崩解死亡比例依次增多,表明三种炎性因子的表达量与SS2的浓度和感染时间之间呈正相关;受损或濒死细胞比例亦正相关;提示三种炎性因子由受损细胞或濒死细胞产生。MOI为1∶1感染12h,或MOI为100∶1感染6h的条件下均可致70%的PAM崩解死亡,表明此条件下SS2可摧毁由PAM构筑的第一道防线。三种炎性细胞因子表达最高峰的条件是MOI为100∶1,感染12h,此时镜下细胞几乎全部崩解死亡,表明PAM的完全死亡伴随炎性因子的最大释放,炎症随吞噬功能的完全丧失而开始。结果表明,在SS2引致肺炎过程中,AM的作用是炎症的起始者,而不是抵御细胞。